Sunday, July 22, 2007
Finally, a Sunday without a drop of rain to ruin our parade, or should we say celebration?!
It’s hard to believe twenty years have passed by since Club Schutzhund Rive-Sud first opened its “doors”. Twenty years of fond memories, enthusiastic members and capable dogs have passed by in the blink of an eye and on Sunday several former members, all the current members and a few visitors from other clubs come together in Laprairie to rekindle friendships, relive good times and feast on a huge buffet graciously prepared by our very own Treasurer and master chef, Sigi Klein.
Visitors were greeted by our lovely accounts manager and club photographer, Isabella, and were served a delicious punch prepared and served by none other than our head trainer and president, Frank McEniry. The punch lived up to its name: it packed a heck of a wallop but that didn’t stop several revelers from queuing up for more, right Anthony? .All in all, more than fifty-five people packed the grounds for the club’s 20th anniversary celebration and made it a resounding success.
We dined on mounds of roast beef, sausage, pork loin, chicken, baked potatoes, corn and a variety of salads. And for anyone that still had room in their bellies, a multitude of mouth-watering deserts were laid out that included a light and delicate crème fraîche anniversary cake emblazoned with the club’s logo. Sigi presented the cake and shared a few heart-felt words in appreciation of all who took time out of their busy schedules to celebrate the anniversary. He was especially pleased to see familiar faces from long ago.
The current club members also shared a few words to express their gratitude and appreciation for Sigi’s and Frank’s time, patience and efforts and presented each with framed caricatures developed and designed by Marian, Katarina and Isabella with input from other club members.
Before anyone exploded from eating too much of Sigi’s fabulous food, Frank and Pierre gathered the entire group on a nearby hill for a group photo taken by our very own professional photographer and current club member, Pierre Lalongé.
The club also held a 50-50 raffle and live auction. . Pierre Lalongé donated several t-shirts, photo-albums, leashes, backpacks and many other wonderful items on behalf of Royal Canin. Paul Dethyse provided a training jacket, leash and other coveted Gappay items from Dethyse.com. Frank performed a new role, carnival barker, to goad the crowd to part with their hard-earned money for the auction. He did a great job as every single lot was sold and in short order
The 50-50 and auction winners were:
Danny Gavita
Paul Dethyse
Julie Boudreau
Celynn Dion
Mario Bechard
Astrid Bortoluzze
Ding Yuan
Before long it was time to say good-bye and see you again soon. Some of our visitors shared their feelings about the event before they left.
Mike Di Criscio; “Great party. Great people. Great times.”
Denis Charbonneau; « Félicitations à votre club. »
Gaston Landreville; «Très bien réussi. Bravo à la prochaine. »
Hélène Simoneau; « Excellente accueil. »
Mario Bechard; « Merci pour l’invitation. Rappels de beaux souvenirs. »
Michel Gagnon; « Un seul mot : excellent!!! »
Jean-Paul Rousseau; « Apres 20 ans il me fait plaisir de retrouver un endroit qui a plein de bons souvenirs. »
Some current club members shared what they most enjoyed about the celebration:
Sigi; “It was great to see the old farts again.”
Isabella; “I enjoyed meeting all the former members. And the fruit punch, too!”
Pierre; « J’ai bien aimé le climat d’amitié entre les gens et de voir les vieux qu’on a pas vus depuis 10, 15, 20 ans. »
Marian; “Emptying the toilet in the middle of the party, ha-ha!”
Happy 20th « Club Schutzhund Rive-Sud ». Hope the next 20 are as successful.
Article submitted by Natalie Szokoll
